Five federal employees win public service awards

Four federal employees have been honored as 2006 National Public Service Award winners, and one was designated a "keeper of the flame" of public service, in a competition open to employees across a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations and local, state and federal agencies.

The federal winners were: Joan Bauerlein, director of aviation research and development at the Federal Aviation Administration; Annabelle Lockhart, director of the Labor Department's Civil Rights Center; Leonidas Ralph Mecham, director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts; and Howard Young, principal investigator with the Laboratory of Experimental Immunology at the National Cancer Institute.

The 2006 Keeper of the Flame award, presented to "an individual who has kept the fire of public service burning after retirement," was awarded to Thomas McFee, former assistant secretary for personnel with the Health and Human Services Department and now a management consultant.

The NPSAs have been granted since 1983 by the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration to honor career public servants who have made unusual contributions to society through their work to foster a democratic society served by effective government, according to eligibility criteria.

The numerous honors to federal employees are especially noteworthy because the awards include no category designations, meaning that individuals from all levels of government and non-government public service organizations competed for each one. Up to five general awards are made each year, and this is the first time that federal employees have won four.

An NPSA sketch of Bauerlein's career highlighted her diplomatic skills, her work in identifying human factors contributing to aviation and runway accidents, and a program she launched at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that provides information to the public on vehicle crashworthiness. It also noted that she teaches English as a second language and has worked at a local soup kitchen.

The award committee recognized work by Lockhart to educate state and local equal opportunity professionals on the federal resources available to them, integrate technology into the Labor Department's equal opportunity training, and unite Labor management and unions behind an equal opportunity mediation process, as well as volunteer work with local groups that assist homeless families and serve youth and the elderly.

Mecham was honored for decentralizing resource management in the court system to give senior managers the tools to address their own needs and priorities, relying in part on better accounting and internal controls to support the change. He was credited with introducing new electronic systems that improved public service and reduced costs, and leadership roles in health advocacy groups.

Young has been distinguished for his research on new protocols for treating cancer, but was recognized by the award committee for his efforts to introduce youth to science careers. He developed an intern program at the National Cancer Institute and a summer series that lets students hear from guest speakers on current scientific topics, and has been a leader in professional and scientific groups.

McFee was recognized for his public service contributions spanning his transition into retirement. During his federal career, he served as HHS assistant secretary for personnel for seven department secretaries. Then, at the National Academy of Public Administration, he continued to advise agencies planning to implement performance-based pay systems. Even into retirement, the committee found, McFee made extensive contributions to public service -- including serving on the NPSA selection committee for more than a decade.

One other award was announced this year, going to Jane Pisano, president and director of the National History Museum of Los Angeles County.

NPSA winners will be presented with a Steuben crystal eagle, while McFee will receive a brass candlestick as the Keeper of the Flame award. The 2006 award ceremony will take place in Denver on April 3.